Car construction



Jan. 12, 1943.

s. SIMONSON 2,307,862

CAR CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 22,'1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l ,vm wmwwwmwm 6 Jan. 12, 1943. $|MQN$0N 2,367,862

OAR CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 22, 1941 v r g I6 r 22 Patented Jan. 12, 1943 CAR CONSTRUCTION Sigvard Simonson, Butler, Pa., assignor to O. C.

Duryea Corporation, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application September 22, 1941, Serial No. 411,926

orrics 3 Claims.

This invention relates to railway car underframes of the Duryea type which provide long are not to be taken as a definition of the limits travel for resisting draft and bufiing shocks with of the invention, reference being had to the aplow forces, together with train slack predeterpended claims for this purpose. mined independently of and preferably shorter In the drawings, than said long travel. Fig. 1 is a side view of one end of an under- 'In a form well known in practice the Duryea frame embodying the invention; underframe comprises a draft and bufi'ing column Fig. 2 is a plan View in section on the line 2- extending substantially the length of the car of Fig. 1; body and longitudinally movable relative thereto, Fig. 3 is a side view in section on the line 3-3 and car couplers which are suitably mounted at of Fig. 2; the ends of the column for movement of limited Fig. 4 is a section on the line -44 of Fig. l; extent relative thereto. The car body is cush- Fig. 5 is a sectional view illustrating diagramioned against draft and bulfing shocks by suitmatically the method of installation of the spring able cushion gears interposed between it and the housing means in the draft and bufling column; column, these gears comprising various types of and spring and friction devices and having relatively Fig. 6 is a sectional View of another construclong travel to provide low forces. on the other tion embodying the invention. I hand, the movement of the couplers relative to In the particular underframe' construction the column is also cushioned by suitable coupler shown herein for purposes of illustration, the cushioning means. For example, in some underdraft and buffing column comprises a pair of Z- frame constructions, which are typified by the sections I0 having their lower flanges II turned patent to Otho C. Duryea No. 1,693,194, coupler outwardly and their upper flanges I2 turned incushion springs separate from the long travel wardly and We e together along the line I cushion gears are used. In other constructions, 5 s e plained above, the column In is movable typified by the patent to Otho C, Duryea No. longitudinally relative to the car body, the floor 1,904,294, the long travel cushion gear springs are I4 and end sill I5 of which are shown, and the disposed between the bolsters and the couplers bars I6 along the upper edges of the column coand are arranged so that their initial compression operate with hangers I'I secured to the end sill cushions the limited movement of the couplers 5 ehdform p Of the means for guiding and relative to the column and their further compres- S ppor t e Columh- A S a Coupler sion cushions the greater movement of the colextends inwardly betwee t e m b s I" a is umn relative to the car body. connected to the column by a key I9 extending In practice the draft and buffing column is through a slot in the coupler shank and through usually made up of spaced parallel members, such aligned openings in the members I 0 which are as channels or Z-sections, which are suitably condefined by ribs 20. The key I9 is retained in ponected together as by cover plates, riveting or sition by n e ed ed at O e end and a welding, etc. Hence it is desirable that the p 22 at t e Ot er end. cushion springs in underframes of either type I the orm Shown, the connection between referred to abov should b disposed d u 40 the coupler and the column provides for move ported within the column as shown in the af rement of the coupler relative to the column in the said patents, and the present invention is diinward direction only. To this end the slot in rected particularly to means for accomplishing the coupler shank is longer than the width of the this end. key I 9 as indicated by the space 23, and the open- One of the objects f the inventi n i t proings in the members II) are longer than the width vide novel means for supporting and housing a of the key as indicated by the spaces 24. With spring within a draft and bufling column of the he p r s r l maintained n t p ion above type, which means are simple and ineXpenshown in the drawings, the Co p key .and colsive and easy to install but at the same time umn all move outwardly as a unit on draft withstrong, rugged and durable under practical serv- 01111 train Sleekon buff, however, the Coupler ice conditions. can move inwardly relative to the key due to the Another object of the invention is to provide Space d the p e d y canmove insuch housing and supporting means in a f m wardly together relative to the column due to the which can be readily installed after the draft and space to provide train a S ch inward buffing column has been completely assembl d, movement of the coupler relative to the column One embodiment of the invention has been moves the follower plate 25 and. compresses the illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which coil spring 26, the extent of 'suc'h'relative coupler show by way of example one end of a Duryea movement being determined by the space 21 beunderframe of the type of Patent No. 1,904,294, tween the follower plate 25 and the outer end of but it is to be expressly understood that said the spring housing means hereinafter described.

drawings are for purposes of illustration only and the patents referred to above, as well as from other patents such as to the patent to Otho C. Duryea, No. 2,238,163, and from the copending application of William A. Bierman and Sigvard Simonson, Serial No. 400,466, filed June 30, 1941. It will be understood that the particular underframe construction and operation described above is merely for purposes of illustration. Thus while the spring 26 has the dual function of cushioning the movement of the coupler relative to the column as well as the movement of the column relative to the car body, the spring housing means now to be described may be used in any of the underframes referred to above, wherever suitable.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, said housing means comprises two similar but oppositively disposed housing members 30, the cross sectional shape of which is shown clearly in Fig ,4. These housing members may have any suitable length, depending upon the length of spring to be supported, and their central portions are dished or curved in roughly semicircular shape so that when oppositely disposedthey cooperate to form a substantially circular spring housing as shown in Fig. 4. At the edges of the curved portions are marginal flanges 3| which extend laterally through slots in the vertical webs of the members Ill and are suitably secured therein as by welding.

A convenient method or installing the spring housing, after the draft and buffing column has been completely assembled, is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 5. It will be observed that the width of the slots in the members I!) is twice the thickness of the flanges 3! so that when juxtaposed, said flanges fit closely in .and substantially completely fill the slots. The widths of the curved portions and of the flanges are so proportioned to the width of the draft and buffing column, however, that when the upper housing member is disposed at an angle as indicated in dotted lines at 32, its left-hand flange 3| can be inserted in the slot in the left hand side wall Ill and the right-hand flange 3! will then swing upwardly inside the right-hand side wall III to the position shown in cross section. The righthand flange 31 of the lower housing member 30 may then be similarly inserted in the slot in the right-hand side wall ID, as indicated by the dotted line position 33, so that the left-hand flange 3| will then swing upwardly inside the lefthand side wall ID to the position shown in cross section. When this has been done, the upper housing member is moved to the right and the lower housing member to the left until they are centered in the column with both flanges engaged in their respective slots as shown in Fig. 4.

In the form shown in Fig. 6, the upper and lower housing members 34 are curved similarly to the housing members 30 and similarly cooperate to form a substantially circular spring housing. These housing members are provided with marginal flanges 35 which, instead of fitting in slots in the side walls [0, extend only to and engage the inner surfaces of said side walls so that the housing members can be slipped upwardly between the side walls into the desired position and then suitably secured to the side walls as by welding. Preferably said flanges are provided with vertical extensions 36 along their outer edges which engage the inner surfaces of the side walls and provide greater area for welding along the lines 31.

It will thus be observed that a simple and inexpensive means is provided for housing and supporting a spring between the spaced vertical side walls of the draft and buffing column. The housing means can be easily installed and constitutes a strong, rugged construction which will withstand the forces encountered under service conditions and operate reliably for long periods. At the same time it can be readily installed after the draft and bufiing column has been completely assembled.

While two embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in the drawings, it is to be expressly understood that these embodiments are for purposes of illustration only and that various changes may be made in the design, details of construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit of the invention. Reference should therefore be had to the appended claims for a definition of the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway car underframe, a draft and buifing column having spaced, vertical side walls, and spring supporting means comprising housing members having oppositely disposed curved portions cooperating to form a spring housing and marginal flanges extending laterally through and secured in slots in said side walls, each of said members being dimensioned so that one, flange will be inserted in its slot in one side wall with the edge of the opposite flange lying within the opposite side wall,

2. In a railway car underframe, a draft and bufiing column having spaced, vertical side walls, and spring supporting means comprising housing members having oppositely disposed curved portions cooperating to form a spring housing and marginal flanges extending laterally through and secured in slots in said side walls, the width of said curved portions and flanges being proportioned to the width of said column so that when one flange is inserted in the slot in one side wall the outer edge of the other flange may be swung upwardly inside the other side wall.

3. In a railway car underframe, a draft and bufling column having spaced, vertical side walls,

each of said side walls having a slot therein, and 

